Chege a jeho manželka se zřejmě vraceli z modlitebního shromáždění. Manželce se nic nestalo. „Jsme hluboce zarmouceni a ohromeni touto nesmyslnou smrtí,“ řekla prezidentka CARE Helene Gayle. „Nikdo nebyl více zaujat prací pro chudé a nemohoucí, než Geoffrey.“

Při podobném incidentu byli ve stejný den zastřeleni dvě Američanky a zaměstnanec agentury 12 mil západně od Nairobi. Šlo o dřívější presbyteriánskou misionářku Lois Andersonovou a její dceru Zeldu White; jméno mrtvého zaměstnance není známo. Byly zavražděny, když ozbrojení lupiči zastavili jejich auto. Další dva lidé v autě vyvázli bez zranění. Podle policie „byla nejméně jedna z nich zastřelena, protože vystupování z vozu jí zabralo moc času.“

Doug Welch, oblastní koordinátor americké presbyteriánské církve (PCUSA) řekl, že Andersonová a její manžel „sloužili jako misionáři v Súdánu a Keni čtyři desetiletí. Jsou známi po celé východní Africe díky desítkám let práce v církvi, hlavně v oblasti teologického vyučování.“ Whiteová žila v Keni se svým manželem. Nairobi je od loňska pověstné přepadáním aut a vlnou útoků na cizí diplomaty. (Assist News Service)

Geoffrey Chege, East and Central Africa regional director for the aid agency CARE International, was shot dead during a carjacking on Saturday, Jan. 27, in an upscale suburb of Nairobi, Kenya. He was 57.

Chege was apparently returning from a prayer meeting with his wife when the incident took place. She was not hurt. “We are deeply saddened and stunned by this senseless death,” said CARE President Helene Gayle. “No one was more committed than Geoffrey to uplifting the poor and vulnerable.”

In a similar incident the same day, two U.S. women and an aid agency employee were shot dead in a village 12 miles west of Nairobi. Killed were former Presbyterian missionary Lois Anderson, her daughter, Zelda White, and an unidentified aid worker. They were murdered when rifle-bearing carjackers stopped the vehicle. Two other persons in the vehicle were unhurt. Police authorities reported that “at least one woman was shot because she took too long to leave the car.”

Doug Welch, area coordinator for Africa of the Presbyterian Church U.S.A. (PCUSA), said Anderson and her husband “served as PCUSA missionaries for more than four decades in Sudan and Kenya. They are known across East Africa for their decades of service to the church, especially in the area of theological education.” White lived in Kenya with her husband. Nairobi has gained a reputation for carjacking with a wave of attacks on foreign diplomats in the last year. (Assist News Service)

* HCJB Global Voice has worked with local partners to install eight radio outlets in seven cities of Kenya.

CHURCH STONED IN TURKEY WITH RELIGIOUS TENSIONS ALREADY HIGH

Religious tensions in Turkey, already high after the Jan 19 murder of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink in Istanbul, were again stirred when a Protestant church in the Turkish Black Sea Port city of Samsun was damaged by unknown assailants on Sunday, Jan. 28. The attackers threw stones at the two-story Samsun Agape House church building during the night, breaking more than 10 windows. “The attack was the latest against Christians in this predominantly Muslim country,” Pastor Mehmet Orhan Picaklar, the priest of the Samsun Agape House told Salem Voice Ministries. “There were no casualties, but this [is damaging] to Turkey. This attack depicts Turkey in a bad way before international public opinion.” The pastor added that this was the seventh or eighth attack on the church in the last three years and that he is “constantly receiving death threats by e-mail.” The church moved to the new building just two weeks earlier. A recent rise in Turkish nationalism by young people in Black Sea towns has been spotlighted because the suspected young murderer of Dink and his supporters from the region’s town of Trabzon. (Assist News Service)

PHILOSOPHY CHANGE BEHIND MINISTRY’S NEW NAME, LIFEWIND

The traditional medical mission known as Medical Ambassadors International has integrated evangelism and community development to supplement its medical ministry. To better reflect this approach, the ministry has changed its name to LifeWind International. “It’s inspired, really, by the biblical concept that the Holy Spirit is like the wind, as Jesus said . . . it’s like the breath of God that breathes life into human beings,” said Dr. Bob Paul of LifeWind. “So we mean to point towards the life-transforming power of the Holy Spirit through the name LifeWind.” One of the organization’s foundational ideas is called Community Health Evangelism (CHE) which is designed to be a comprehensive strategy for empowering community change and mobilizing a community’s potential. Through CHE, community volunteers are equipped to evangelize, make disciples, improve health and organize community development projects. (Mission Network News)

3 CHINESE CHRISTIANS ARRESTED, OTHERS FILE LEGAL ACTIONS

A house church raid by Chinese security forces in the Zhangchong township of Jinzhai county on Wednesday, Jan. 24, resulted in the arrest of three church leaders. They were released later in the day following “intensive interrogation.” Eyewitnesses reported that the officers took pictures of every Christian in the room and asked for their names and identities.

Police also confiscated Bibles, hymnbooks, acoustic equipment, a blackboard and the tithe box. There was apparently no documentation approving or justifying the raid. A report by the China Aid Association said, “The police warned the three church leaders that they are not allowed to gather without the registration to the government.”

Elsewhere in China, several leaders who were detained for 15 days have taken legal action to have officials rule whether or not their religious rights were violated. This action, becoming more common among Chinese Christians, continues to build legal foundations and precedents for Christian activities into the legal system, requiring local authorities to provide a legal basis for their actions. (China Aid Association/BosNewsLife)

* HCJB GLOBAL WRAPS UP 75-YEAR CELEBRATIONS WITH NOD TO FUTURE

The year 2006 marked 75 years of ministry as pioneer broadcasting ministry HCJB World Radio became HCJB Global. With the yearlong theme, “Great Is Thy Faithfulness,” echoing the historic first broadcast in Quito, Ecuador, on Dec. 25, 1931, celebrations and honors spread throughout the year.

Highlights included the dedication of a $1.00 Ecuadorian postal stamp in honor of the ministry on Oct. 26, and an open house celebration Dec. 7-9 with more than 7,000 in attendance at the site of Radio Station HCJB in Quito, Ecuador.

A special service hosted by the mission’s Quichua Language Service on Dec. 9 was attended by 2,000 people representing a number of languages and dialects. HCJB Global was credited with helping preserve native languages and cultures, receiving special honors from several active indigenous tribes and organizations.

Former Ecuadorian President Rodrigo Borja and Quito Mayor Paco Moncayo were among those present for a special celebration held primarily for Ecuadorian government officials. Congratulations also came from the City of Quito, CONARTEL (the Ecuadorian communications regulatory agency) and the Federation of Evangelical Ecuadorian Indigenous Nations (FEINE) as President Marco Murillo presented the mission with a plaque.

The ministry’s present and former staff members also celebrated the occasion with about 1,200 people attending three two-hour receptions in Quito on Dec. 15. A special reception was also held at the mission’s Hospital Vozandes-Shell in Ecuador’s Amazon region on Dec. 16.

A “Forever Family” reunion celebration in May drew 120 former staff members to the HCJB Global Ministry Service Center Colorado Springs, Colo., and nearly 30 former staff gathered in Quito in September to celebrate various festivities held in conjunction with the mission’s 76th Annual Members’ Meeting.

The mission also produced a special 100-page coffee table book that is filled with numerous photos and historical accounts to commemorate the organization’s 75th anniversary. It is called Vision to Reach the World.

Other notable events included a special newspaper supplement about Radio Station HCJB published in the Quito newspaper Hoy, the production of eight Ecuadorian music CDs, and seven special donor events in the U.S., Ecuador, and the U.K. In addition, the anniversary celebration was incorporated into the annual Quito Day Concerts.

As the ministry celebrated its rich heritage, it also took bold steps toward the future. In order to better reflect the worldwide reach and diversity of ministry that it had become in the last 75 years, the mission officially became HCJB Global on Jan. 1, 2007.

The media arm of the ministry is now called HCJB Global Voice, and the healthcare outreach is called HCJB Global Hands. The organization’s mission is to “empower dynamic media and healthcare ministries that declare and demonstrate Jesus Christ.” The ongoing call is to put “Truth in Motion.” (HCJB Global)

© Copyright 2007 - HCJB World Radio - Colorado Springs, CO USA